Hazel Mae turns 1

On April 16, my little Hazel Mae had a birthday and turned 1.  I can't even believe this adorable baby girl has been in my life for a year now. 

We invited a few people over to celebrate.  We started out with lunch - ham, turkey, or salami wraps, veggie tray, fruit salad, veggie straws, and lemonade. 

Presents make good decorations 

Before we got too far into the celebration, Bruce and a couple of the other dads helped us move a swing set from our neighbors yard to ours.  It was quite the spectacle, but they ended up getting the job done. 

I bought some Wilton cake tips and tried my best at decorating this cute little teddy bear cake for the party.   

But the birthday girl actually got her very own cake that she didn't have to share with anyone. 

Oddly enough, she wasn't as excited to have her own cake as I thought. 

Nor did she enjoy the spotlight.  Right at the end of our first rendition of "Happy Birthday," she showered the party with all the birthday excitement she could muster.  

Poor sleepy baby girl!  The rest of us all enjoyed cake while Hazel got some shut eye. 

A few hours later, we tried the "happy birthday" song again, with a lot more success.  We had a happy girl who has discovered a new found love for cake.  

She ate some after lunch, after dinner, and right before bed.  By the time the day was over, she had probably eaten about a quarter of it.  It didn't take her long to dive right in. 

After cake, it was time for presents.  It was difficult to get some good pictures of Hazel opening her presents, because the other kids just wanted to step in and take over.  With a lot of unwanted help from them, she eventually got them all opened. 

She got a Minnie mouse doll, a little people princess carriage, a small kitchen pan set, some princess dolls to play with in the bath tub, and a few dress up clothes that I hope she will grow into and like. 

Grandma Porter got her a baby doll.

Grandma Richards sent $20.  I took that money to a mother's market and scored her some new outfits.

Overall we had a great time celebrating the day this angel came into our family.  Words cannot express how much I love this little girl.  She makes me laugh and smile everyday.  She loves milk - seriously loves milk.  She drinks bottle after bottle after bottle of milk.  She communicates through loud screaming and will let me know again and again that she wants more milk.  She sneaks into the fridge to suck yogurt, isn't too crazy about fruit, but loves meat.  She loves eating with a fork, blows on her all her food (so adorable), folds her arms during the prayer, loves to blow raspberries on everyone, likes to tease with that cute little smile she flashes, and has the most awesome fishy face.

She loves to be outside - "riding" bikes, going for walks, swinging at the park, giving hugs and kisses, smiling, and every kind of ball.  She loves to sing - quite loudly I may add - she loves cake and Hershey kisses.  She's aggressive and sweet, sassy and loving - her giggle will make you laugh out loud.  She is a ray of sunshine, and I count her as a huge blessing in my life every single day.  Bubba-do - I sure do love you. 

1st attempt at Happy Birthday

Cute trouble

As her first birthday approaches, I realize that I have not only been hopelessly behind, but I haven't had a post just about this beauty since she was born.  Hazel is a determine, fireball, go-getter kind of a gal.  She always keeps us guessing at what she is going to do next.  Ever one to march to the beat of her own drum, she definitely has her own individual personality and is determined to not be overshadowed by her big brother and sister.  We nickname her "crazy Hazy" for good reason - but we wouldn't change anything about her for any reason. She is a doll. 

She loves blankets.  She tries to wrap them around herself, and she always brings them up to her face and buries herself in them.  I couldn't help but take a picture of this girl wrapped up in her blanket. 

She empties out my pantry, the cookie sheets in the drawer under my stove, my Tupperware cupboard, and the dishwasher everyday.  Somehow she managed to pry the lid off the couscous and dumped it all over the floor.  Then without a second thought, she started shoving it in her mouth by the handfuls. 

She has learned how to open the refrigerator.  After watching her brother and sister day after day, she copies their tricks.  Finding a container of yogurt, she sinks her teeth into the top and starts sucking out its contents as quickly as possible.  Boy does she scream if you take it away.  It's not all bad, except when mom gets out of the refrigerator to find not 1, but 5 different yogurts with incriminating evidence that look a lot like Hazel's bite marks. 

The girl loves food!  All kind of food!  So far, I have yet to find a food she won't eat.  She has very little patience in waiting for mom to feed her.  She wants to do everything for herself.  Wearing her food is about as awesome as eating it.  Her cleverness rewards her later in the day too.  She strategically throws food onto the floor, then when she is hungry later in the day, she remembers where she threw it and finds herself a snack.  If she were left alone, this girl wouldn't go hungry.  When I am clearing off the table, she watches while I scrape food remnants into the garbage can.  Then when I am rinsing the dishes in the sink, she makes her way over to the garbage and picks out what she wants.  To top it all off, she sucks up the water from the bottom of the dishwasher.  I know, totally gross but kind of funny.  That's why we call her "crazy Hazy"

Her smile is completely irresistible.  She loves attention and loves to be involved.  At times she can get jealous of anyone else who has my attention.  She has been known to push Zabien off my lap.  When she talks, it's more of a loud squeal that changes into a scream.  When she "communicates" with Zabien - things get noisy at our house. 

At this point, she's not patient enough for someone to read to her, but she loves looking through books and reading to others. 

Full speed ahead - that's the way she rolls.  Her first steps were more like lunges.  Any time she pushes something, it's with head down and force.  She looks forward to when we drop the other two kids off at preschool and hang out at CVS for a little while - the carts there are so maneuverable, and we are usually the only customers in the store.  She likes to crawl with her head down and something in her mouth - just like a puppy dog. 

She is into everything.  The DVD cabinet is her favorite - it's a good thing she can't open it herself yet.  She waits until we are most unsuspecting, and forgot to close it completely. 

The swings at the park is her favorite place to play.  Giggles galore the moment the first push is administered.  How can you not totally love that face.

She is an accessory kind of girl.  She loves to wear beads, and usually puts them on before leaving the house - yes, already.  She loves wrapping any article of clothing around her neck just like a scarf. 

She loves food!

She simply enjoys her reflection.  She is often found sitting in front of the back sliding doors, talking to herself. 

She's got some crazy curly locks - especially in humidity.  I hope she keeps them after her first haircut.

And she sits in her new favorite seat. 

Crazy Hazy Mazy, we sure love you, and I'm so happy you are in our family!

Easter

Easter Sunday is always one to look forward to, and this one was no exception.  The "Easter Bunny" doesn't necessarily visit our house, but mom does leave a little Easter surprise on the table for everyone.  Before we get into more specifics about this particular Sunday, let's start with pictures of the kids. 

I went with a yellow theme this year.  Hazel and Zabien's clothes I got on clearance last year after Easter.  I was hoping to find a dress to fit Eliza at the same store, but they didn't have any in her size.  Drat!  For a full year, I looked and looked for a dress that would "fit in" with the others.  I finally found this one at Kohls.  I was very pleased with the result, and even more excited when I was able to snag this $70.00 dress for a mere $15.00

Eliza was so excited to wear this dress.  Ever the princess, she smiled and posed perfectly the first time. 

Zabien took a few shots (some with his tongue out, some looking away), but he finally gave me a decent smile for a millisecond and I was able to at least capture it. 

Hazel was nearly impossible.  You see, the girl started walking, and now whenever we set her somewhere and walk a few feet away (in this case to take a picture), she thinks that is the cue to toddle on over to us.  She loves this game and is all smiles during it, but it make for some very blurry photos.  This is the best one of her that I got. 

I'm not sure how many tries it took us to get a decent one of all of them.  Enjoy these photos in the process. 

Hazel kept trying to walk away and screamed at everyone when Eliza tried to hold her in place. 

 

Then we moved her to the other side to see if she would stay......, but no.  Hazel wanted to go, Zabien didn't want to listen to her scream, and Eliza just wanted someone to take her picture in this beautiful dress. 

Let's try again.  Almost - if only the other kids weren't laughing at Hazel's attempt to escape. 

There we go!  We finally got one that will pass - at least everyone is looking, Zabien's tongue is in his mouth, Hazel is running away, and Eliza is glowing like usual - Golden!

As mentioned earlier, they kids got and Easter surprise.  Eliza was super excited to get this Belle doll, and even more so when she also had a matching dress.  Zabien loved his pluto doll, and Hazel wouldn't pose with her Abby Cadabby doll. 

We had to get to church an hour early for choir practice.  Practice went ok, but I was definitely needing some extra prayers.  I haven't mentioned it before, but I have psoriatic arthritis.  This is a fairly recent development which not many people know about, and I am still on a waiting list to see a specialist, so I'm not currently receiving any treatment.  Among the normal pain and discomfort, playing the piano makes it worse.  This particular Sunday was at the end of a long and agonizing week.  I really needed some prayers if I was going to pull off accompanying 2 musical numbers.

Sacrament meeting started, and the children were particularly challenging.  We had a long day at the temple the day before, and everyone was just tired.  By the time the sacrament was through, I had already been in the hall twice with each of the three kids.  (Bruce is in the bishopric so he always gets to sit on the stand and smile at me while I struggle with them).  The first speaker concluded and I was in the hall chasing after Zabien when it was time to start the first musical number.  I was hurting so bad and didn't know if I was going to get through it.  Then, the miracle happened.  4 people came rushing out of the chapel: Sister Pond took Hazel, Sister Long took Eliza, and Sister Onorato took Zabien, while Brother Cassell was making sure everyone was under control so we could make the music happen.  I was able to breeze through those songs and the rest of sacrament meeting.  I didn't feel any pain until I had to play in primary. 

Hazel was the only one who took a nap when we got home.   So the rest of us dyed Easter eggs since we didn't get to it the day before. 

I thought I had plenty of eggs - after all I had 3 cartons in the fridge.  However, when I went to boil them, I only had a total of 10 eggs between the three cartons.  How did that happen?  Not sure, but everyone seemed to have a good time - albeit short. 

Bruce tried to do a two-tone.  It turned out really nice.

The Cassells came over at around 2 to play some games before dinner.  If you want some sure entertainment - just have Zabien play Guesstures.  The trick is trying to figure out what he is acting out because he gets up there and just starts doing his own thing.  So hilarious!

Before bed, we had both Zabien and Eliza tell us the Easter story and its significance.  Eliza did extremely well, Zabien needed a bit more help.  After scriptures and prayers, it was off to bed. The biggest question is yet to remain....... where will they sleep?

They both use their beds and toy boxes. 

Happy Easter.  May we always remember the grace and mercy of our loving Heavenly Father and the joy and happiness we feel in knowing that our Savior lives and loves for us.  He suffered for me, and I try to be a better person because of it.  He lives!

Ringing rocks

We decided to spend Bruce's last day of Spring Break up at Ringing Rock park.  We packed a picnic lunch and loaded every one up.  This park wasn't that far away, a quick 25 minute drive and we were there.  The trail blazers ready to begin.  Notice the look of awe and excitement on Zabien's face.  This park is the dream of any little boy.

Hazel was surprisingly content in the backpack.  I wasn't quite sure how she would do, but she seemed to enjoy the ride and scenery.  At least she felt included in the adventure. 

I thought we would have to hike for awhile before we came upon the rocks.  I also thought we would have to climb a bunch of rocks to get to the ones that ring.  But, we probably walked 100 yards before we came upon this....

The wonder of these rocks.  Apparently, they are hollow inside.  Thus, when they are hit with a hammer or other hard metal tool, they will ring - hence the name Ringing Rock.  The catch is, they only ring in this park.  People have tried removing the rocks and banging on them in another location and they don't ring, it just sounds like someone banging a hammer on a rock.  Interesting phenomenon.  

The expressions on the kids' face really say it all.  Eliza was less than thrilled about our excursion.  I'm not sure what she was expecting, but apparently a park full of rocks was not it. 

She kept asking when the fun part was going to start, and if we could go home yet.

Zabien on the other hand...

This was the best day ever.  Next time we go, we will bring a variety of different sized hammers, and other hard tools to get different sounds.  We had a difficult time convincing this boy it was time to leave. 

He moved quickly from rock to rock banging to his hearts content. 

Hazel was just Hazel - content to be apart of it all and relieved to be out of the backpack when it was time. 

After we banged on the rocks for a little while, we took a short hike to the waterfall.  It was a very short hike, but still a bit challenging as there were lots of rocks to climb over to get to it. 

Eliza didn't want to get dirty or wet, while Zabien said he wanted the waterfall to have more rocks to climb.  The sun in the background makes this picture look a little funny - that and we only take pictures with our phones now since yet another cheap camera has bit the dust.

Zabien did a pretty good job of taking this picture of us. I was impressed that we actually made it into the photo.

Here's the picture Eliza snapped - at least the people are in the middle.

It wasn't necessarily an awe-inspiring waterfall, but it was pretty and impressive when you consider that this park is small and in the middle of several towns.

I really can't get enough of taking pictures of these cute kids - they both are always full of such personality. 

We had no trouble convincing Eliza it was time to go.  In fact, she darted right up those rocks as quickly as possible.  She was the one telling us to hurry up and go, it was time for lunch. 

While eating lunch, another family turned on some music in their car.  Zabien thought this was the perfect opportunity to jump on top of a rock and get his groove on.  I love the way he dances, as if he doesn't have a care in the world. 

Zabien's only question.... when are we coming back??